And you think you are hard done by 
Smurf, darling. England is the size of Alabama. One of our 50 states. Do you have any idea how large the USA is and the distances we have to travel to work, the grocery, almost anywhere? Do you also understand very few areas have Rapid Transit or commuter trains?
Also, everything else is so expensive that these higher gas prices are the back breaker. They have caused the prices of everything to go up. And need you be reminded that we do not have national healthcare, yet when you count up all the taxes we pay, including sales tax, income tax on federal, state, city and county levels and then taxes on other products, we pay 50% of our incomes to taxes, but do not get free health care? I am uninsured. One trip to the hospital could put me into debt into the thousands of dollars.
Yes, we are hard done by. And when gas gets that high here, it will grind things to a halt economically. It will affect you and the rest of the world. The dominoes will fall in every direction.